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Doc: Reds focused on what they have, not what they lost

By Paul Daugherty
3:48 a.m. EDT March 9, 2014

Despite key losses to the roster, the Reds are focusing on the players still around like Joey Votto and Jay Bruce.
(Photo:
The Enquirer/Gary Landers
)

GOODYEAR, Ariz. – The Sonoran Desert is all sharp edges. Rocks the color of dried blood are razors dotting the moonscape, their presence unbroken but for the occasional spiky, painful plant. Mesquite bushes have claws. The desert is naked truth, which makes it an ironic place for baseball in March.

There is nothing entirely truthful about spring training, save the tough judgments passed on prospects, and veterans who need to be told it's time to go. Spring training is the time for universal good feeling. The sharp edges come later.

It wasn't a great winter for the Cincinnati Reds. They lost their most dependable starting pitcher, and a leadoff hitter who'd played better than anyone expected. There was no Mat Latos deal or Aroldis Chapman signing, nothing to suggest improvement. The Reds did lock up Homer Bailey, but that won't make them better in 2014.

Something happens in March, though, every year, no matter how unrealistic it might seem a few months down the road. Spring training is a state of mind. Bored, frozen northern media and fans are paroled to bask in the odd sunshine. They relearn that life isn't so bad. Hope sprouts, even in the desert, and so I canvassed the home clubhouse this past week, asking this embarrassingly softball question:

"In 10 words or less, tell me why this is going to be a successful year for this team."

In the clutches of an endless winter, we'd lost sight of the fact that there are at least 10 players on this team that any team in baseball would like to have. The starting rotation is among the best three or four in the National League. The bullpen depth and talent might be No. 1.

Billy Hamilton is human electricity. Jay Bruce is on the cusp of greatness; Joey Votto is there already. Despite our winter grumblings – present company most definitely included – this is a very solid baseball team.

That's a fragile, March truth, of course, subject to injury and unexpected failure. We know what we'll get from Votto, Bruce and Brandon Phillips. The rest of the Everyday Eight, for various reasons, comes with pauses. If Todd Frazier can ... If Ryan Ludwick returns from ...

That makes the Reds no different from any other team in the league.

Don't take my word for it. Ask the people in the room.

"Lemme word this right," Todd Frazier is saying. Frazier is giving it serious consideration. Asking Frazier – or Jay Bruce or Bryan Price – to limit a response to 10 words is like asking the moon to become a custard pie. Frazier is a Jersey guy. Jersey guys like to talk.

"Ten words or less," Frazier says. "I'll get it. I just want to say it right." He comes up with this:

"We understand defeat now. Team unity brings us to where we need to be."

"Sounds like a Chinese proverb," I say.

"Yes," says Frazier.

"What you're really saying is, you're tired of losing early in the playoffs."

"Exactly," says Frazier.

Joey Votto says, "Balance." Votto has had an interesting offseason, suddenly open and engaging. It has continued here. His outward intensity appears to have lightened, even with teammates. What that means is anyone's guess, but Votto seems happier than in the past.

I ask him for nine more words.

"We don't need the best player, or the 25th-best,'' he says. "We've got everything in between."

So this is a complete team?

"I think so," Votto says.

Jay Bruce says the Reds "are going to prepare, expect and execute better than anyone else." After saying, "You can't ask me for just 10 words on anything," the loquacious rookie manager Bryan Price says, "We will be the most prepared team on the field."

Billy Hamilton suggested team unity would own the day.

Ryan Ludwick offered "experience," which covers a lot of ground. Experience, as in years spent gathering the essentials of Knowing What It Takes? Or bad experience, as in falling short of expectations for four straight seasons?

That's a question for another day. Labor Day, maybe, when the hopes of March have been validated or dismissed.

For now, it's all sunny and 75. To quote Jimmy Buffett, "Things are better off than we had feared." ■